National Cathedral: Your 'fake' investigations 'boring' – Adjaye lunges at accusers

Sir David Adjaye of Adjaye & Associates has said the “fake” investigations being conducted by his accusers regarding his contract to design the National Cathedral are “sad” and “boring”.

In an interview with Accra-based Joy News, Sir Adjaye said: I just think that there is nothing wrong with healthy debate. Everybody should have an opinion and talk about how they feel about everything. Things should be allowed to be investigated and checked till everybody feels comfortable. There is nothing hidden or opaque. Everything is going through the system that can be checked through the government”.

He lamented, however: “What is really sad and boring is when people just make accusations based on anything; that is not actually investigating”.

“Fake investigations are just really reflecting badly on the people who are investigating”, he said, adding: “I think all the information is in the public realm and people are ignoring to look at the information and they are saying things that are counter to what is out there in the public realm”.

In June 2022, opposition MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said: “Documents from the Office of the President confirm that in 2021 alone, President Akufo-Addo authorised an astonishing GH¢32million of taxpayer funds to be paid to Sir David Adjaye & Associates Ltd for consultancy on his National Cathedral project. “GH¢57 million so far; more to come”.

Deputy Finance Minister John Kumah later confirmed that the money was from the budget of the Office of the President.

He said: “Even though it may not be captured as a budget item because it is not under any specific MDA, it can form part of government expenditure as long as we have captured it in the budget that we were going to provide seed funding”.

National Cathedral: Your 'fake' investigations 'boring' – Adjaye lunges at accusers; says 'nothing hidden' January 04, 2023.

General News Sir David Adjaye Sir David Adjaye of Adjaye & Associates has said the “fake” investigations being conducted by his accusers regarding his contract to design the National Cathedral are “sad” and “boring”.

In an interview with Accra-based Joy News, Sir Adjaye said: I just think that there is nothing wrong with healthy debate. Everybody should have an opinion and talk about how they feel about everything. Things should be allowed to be investigated and checked till everybody feels comfortable. There is nothing hidden or opaque. Everything is going through the system that can be checked through the government”.

He lamented, however: “What is really sad and boring is when people just make accusations based on anything; that is not actually investigating”.

“Fake investigations are just really reflecting badly on the people who are investigating”, he said, adding: “I think all the information is in the public realm and people are ignoring to look at the information and they are saying things that are counter to what is out there in the public realm”.

In June 2022, opposition MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said: “Documents from the Office of the President confirm that in 2021 alone, President Akufo-Addo authorised an astonishing GH¢32million of taxpayer funds to be paid to Sir David Adjaye & Associates Ltd for consultancy on his National Cathedral project. “GH¢57 million so far; more to come”.

Deputy Finance Minister John Kumah later confirmed that the money was from the budget of the Office of the President.

He said: “Even though it may not be captured as a budget item because it is not under any specific MDA, it can form part of government expenditure as long as we have captured it in the budget that we were going to provide seed funding”.

Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the National Cathedral Secretariat, Dr. Paul Opoku Mensah, recently said the amount paid directly to the Consultant, Adjaye Associates was GH¢113.040.54.67 million.

Speaking at a bible-reading marathon on Monday, 2 January 2023, Dr. Opoku Mensah clarified that all the funds allocated to the construction of the edifice have been accounted for to the pesewa and none has gone missing.

He said GH¢339 million of state funds has been expended on the cathedral as of December 2022.

Dr Opoku Mensah reported to President Akufo-Addo and the media at the event: “For purposes of clarity, I want to report a verbatim memo I sent on this issue dated 19 January 2022 and addressed to the Clerk of Parliament”.

“The indication was that the government has given us GH¢339 million and we could account for GH¢225 million leaving GH¢114 million missing”, he noted.

“Here, I quote what I wrote to the Clerk: 'As we indicated to the Committee on Thursday, December 15, 2022, the total amount paid by the government of Ghana to the National Cathedral project is GH¢339 million. This total is made up of the following: the amount paid directly to the National Cathedral Secretariat is GH¢225 million. The amount paid directly to the Consultant, Adjaye Associates & Design Team is GH¢113.040.54.67 million. The two payments total GH¢339.003.064.86'.”

Dr Opoku Mensah, thus, dispelled claims that some monies allocated for the construction of the cathedral cannot be accounted for.

“So, there are no missing funds that could not be accounted for. Secondly, the detailed account for these funds was provided to Parliament on 15 December 2022 by the Secretariat”.

“In the case of the accounting from the Secretariat, this involves among others, total payments made to the contractor, and total payments made to the Bible Museum and Biblical Gardens Design Team.”

He also expressed the secretariat’s displeasure at the “misrepresentation” of facts on the project by some Members of Parliament.

“While projects of this nature will always have discontent, we are nonetheless concerned about the misrepresentations, particularly when it comes from Members of Parliament”, he mentioned.

“For instance, the continued misrepresentation of the contract to the consultants is worrying as none of the amount bandied around comes anywhere near the contract amount.

“Rather than 34% that they said we’d paid the architect, actually, the contract figure is 12.5% when the Ministry of Works and Housing allows for 15.5%. And the 12.5% will not change irrespective of what happens to the total cost”.

“More critically, the contract is not for an architect, but for a set of consultants’ services involving 15 international and Ghanaian firms of which Sir David Adjaye Associates is the lead consultant.”

In the 2023 budget, the government allocated a sum of GH¢80 million toward the construction of the cathedral, however, the minority caucus succeeded in disapproving it.

The money was, however, reallocated to the communications and road sectors.